ChattanoogaPhil
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Itunes Library New Internal Hard Drive

2009 iMac 27' OSX 10.6.8

 

I bought an external hard and moved the iTunes media folder location and all media via Preference/Advanced/Change... blah blah blah.  Worked great.no problems and all new iTunes media downloads and media additions were going to my external hard drive... all was well. . However, shortly thereafter my internal hard drive failed (I had no other back up other than just iTunes media).  After Apple gets done installing a new hard drive, what is the process to get the computer to recognize that iTunes library and all the media is on the external hard drive and all downloads to continue going to the external hard drive?

Posted on Jun 16, 2012 8:23 AM

by François from Cupertino,Solvedanswer
François from Cupertino François from Cupertino
Level 1 (125 points)
A:

It depends.

If you want to continue to access your content from the external HD, connect the hard drive to your Mac, Hold the option key (alt) and open iTunes. It will ask you to locate your iTunes Library; select the one that you have on the hard drive.

If you want to copy back the content to your internal hard drive, copy the iTunes folder to your Music folder of your Mac. Then, hold the option key (alt) and open iTunes. It will ask you to locate your iTunes Library; select the one that you have on your Mac.

Posted on Jun 16, 2012 8:45 AM

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ChattanoogaPhil

Q: Itunes Library New Internal Hard Drive

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  • by François from Cupertino,Solvedanswer

    François from Cupertino François from Cupertino Jun 16, 2012 8:45 AM in response to ChattanoogaPhil
    Level 1 (125 points)
    Jun 16, 2012 8:45 AM in response to ChattanoogaPhil

    It depends.

    If you want to continue to access your content from the external HD, connect the hard drive to your Mac, Hold the option key (alt) and open iTunes. It will ask you to locate your iTunes Library; select the one that you have on the hard drive.

    If you want to copy back the content to your internal hard drive, copy the iTunes folder to your Music folder of your Mac. Then, hold the option key (alt) and open iTunes. It will ask you to locate your iTunes Library; select the one that you have on your Mac.

  • by Limnos,Helpful

    Limnos Limnos Jun 16, 2012 11:09 AM in response to ChattanoogaPhil
    Level 9 (54,642 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 16, 2012 11:09 AM in response to ChattanoogaPhil

    If you did it the way you said you did it then your "library" (namely the library.itl file) was still on the internal drive and only the media was on the external drive.  This is not the way to move a library to the external drive but it's too late to say that now.  So, your library file (with playlists, ratings, playcount) as such is lost unless you had a separate backup.  All you have left are the media files and you'll need to start with a brand new library file.  If you hold the option key down while starting Tunes you can tell it to make this in a folder called "iTunes" on the external drive, so in future it will all be together.

     

    Realize it could just have well have been your external that failed completely and you would have lost all your media.  I know in my case many of these can never be replaced. You should consider getting a second external drive large enough to back up your computer and your media drive. You have been warned!

     

    What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660

     

    More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management

     

    What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html

  • by ChattanoogaPhil ,

    ChattanoogaPhil ChattanoogaPhil Jun 20, 2012 6:51 PM in response to François from Cupertino
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 20, 2012 6:51 PM in response to François from Cupertino

    Thanks to you both, Francois and Limos. Everytihng is working perfect.